Video Message: World Rivers Day

World Rivers Day is a global celebration of the world's waterways, marked every last Sunday of September.

World Rivers Day highlights the importance of rivers and strives to increase public awareness while encouraging improved stewardship of rivers around the world.

Established in 2005, World Rivers Day has been endorsed by the United Nations and is intended to complement the broader efforts of the UN's Water For Life Decade 2005-2015.

The IUCN Water and Nature Initiative (WANI) is working with more than 80 partners in over 30 countries worldwide, to mainstream environmental and social issues into water resources planning and management.

In view of this year's World Rivers Day (25 September), a special video message was recorded from IUCN's Pangani project site in Tanzania. Filmed at the Kikuletwa tributary, Irene Chikira talks about the challenges and hopes for the Pangani basin, and rivers across the world.